All articles by Michael Cross – Page 116
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News
Unpaid overtime costs lawyers £14k
Legal professionals are among the most likely workers to do unpaid overtime, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A national study published this week found that 49.6% of legal professionals work unpaid overtime. Their average unpaid overtime, 9.7 hours a week, is exceeded only ...
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BT Law is born as claims unit granted ABS licence
Telecommunications giant BT today announced its long-expected move into legal services with the launch of BT Law Limited. The subsidiary, which has received an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, will offer services to corporate customers, initially in the motor claims ...
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IP ‘conflict of interest’ warning
Intellectual property lawyers have been warned to exercise care when claiming ownership of intellectual property from clients in settlement of outstanding bills. A practice note issued by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board, which regulates patent and trademark attorneys, warns practitioners to ensure that exercising a lien over IP in settlement ...
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Once more into the electronic justice breach
‘So far, a pilot of an all-electronic criminal justice system is working in only one of England’s 42 criminal justice areas. Getting the rest up to speed by 2008 will be a delicate task.’ That classic example of understated fence-perching journalism appeared in the Guardian newspaper in 2003. I recall ...
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Jackson implementation ‘a complete shambles’ say litigators
The president of an organisation representing more than 1,000 civil litigators has added her voice to a growing chorus of alarm about the rushed implementation of the Jackson reforms. Francesca Kaye (pictured), president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, described the Ministry of Justice’s handling ...
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Collective actions will fuel ‘litigation culture’
A US industry body has added its voice to concerns about government plans to simplify collective actions under competition law. The US Institute for Legal Reform echoed the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI’s) warning that US-style collective actions would ‘fuel a litigation culture in the ...
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A flawed international tribunal
Considering its economic, kinship and historic ties with the UK, Bangladesh is absurdly under-reported in the British media. So you probably won’t have picked up the latest news from the country’s attempt to draw a judicial line under events that took place during its bloody birth, four decades ago.
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Not entirely Honest Abe
Spielberg’s historical epic Lincoln is a tear-jerker - well, it extracted tears from me. But while critics have rightly raved about the acting and the daringly (for Hollywood) complex screenplay, no one seems to have pointed out the film’s real importance: its message about the value of a legalistic mind. ...
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Business lobby condemns ‘opt-out’ regime in competition actions
Government plans to simplify procedures for taking collective legal action against price fixing and other anti-competitive behaviour have received a mixed reception. The measures, announced today, include making the Competition Appeal Tribunal the main court for competition actions and introducing a new opt-out regime for ...
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Ombudsman predicts more cases as compensation limit rises
The Legal Ombudsman is expecting to increase the number of investigations it carries out under new powers coming in to force today. The new rules lift the ceiling on compensation awards from £30,000 to £50,000 and allow the ombudsman to accept complaints from prospective as ...
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News
Simplify complaints procedures, OFT tells profession
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has urged the legal profession to simplify its complaints procedures, following the publication of research showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on to make a formal complaint. Responding, the Legal Services Board (LSB) said it was making ...
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Legal professional privilege fight goes on
The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ...
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Supreme Court stars on YouTube
The Supreme Court’s decision to post videos of judgment summaries on YouTube from tomorrow is great news. It will open up the court to a new audience and build a useful resource for students. As an imperfect practitioner in the art of reducing complex legal arguments to a paragraph or ...
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Legal professional privilege only for lawyers, Supreme Court rules
The Supreme Court ruled today that legal professional privilege (LPP) applies only to qualified lawyers – solicitors and barristers. The eagerly awaited decision, by a majority of 5:2, maintains the existing certainty about the scope of LPP. It confirms that ‘there is no doubt that ...
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LSB backs call for simpler complaints regime
A call by the competition watchdog for simpler complaints procedures in the legal profession has received the support of the Legal Services Board. The Office of Fair Trading’s recommendation followed the publication of research today showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on ...
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Allen & Overy’s Wootton leads thin line-up of solicitor honours
David Wootton, partner of magic circle firm Allen & Overy - and last year’s Lord Mayor of London - is one of only a handful of solicitors to feature in the 2013 New Year honours list. Corporate finance specialist Wootton, who was admitted in 1975, receives a knighthood ‘for services ...
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Government backs apprenticeship route to law
Apprenticeships equivalent to BA and MA degrees will soon be available as a route in to the law, the government announced today. In a statement strongly backing professional apprenticeships, Matthew Hancock, the skills minister, said there is no reason why aspiring lawyers cannot attain the ...
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SRA admits disappointment at COLP and COFA figures
Several hundred firms face having their authorisation revoked for failing to appoint acceptable compliance officers, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said today. In its first formal statement of disappointment at the profession’s response to the requirement to appoint compliance officers for legal practice and for finance ...
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Create constitutional rights, not a new bill – Law Society
The Law Society has added its voice to those opposing the creation of a UK bill of rights. Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, the Society’s president proposed instead that 'constitutional rights' be added to existing laws. In a statement published after the government’s Commission on a Bill of Rights ...
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High threshold for offensive social media prosecutions
Crown Prosecution Service guidelines proposed today for the prosecution of cases involving communications sent via social media sites such as Twitter will give more latitude to offensive and satirical comment, the director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said. The guidelines require prosecutors to distinguish ...